GODHRA: A court in Gujarat has acquitted all 26 persons accused of gang rape and murder of more than a dozen members of a minority community in separate incidents in Kalol during communal riots in 2002, for want of evidence in the 20-year-old case.

Of the total 39 accused, 13 died during the case pendency and the trial against them was abated.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Leelabhai Chudasama at Halol in Panchmahal district on Friday acquitted 26 persons for the offences of murder, gang rape and rioting for want of evidence.

“As many as 13 out of a total 39 accused in the case had died during the pendency of the trial,” the court said in the order.

The accused persons were part of a mob that went on a rampage in the communal riots that broke out on March 1, 2002 during a bandh call given after the Sabarmati train burning incident in Godhra on February 27.

An FIR was lodged against the accused at Kalol police station on March 2, 2002.

The prosecution examined 190 witnesses and 334 documentary evidence in support of its argument, but the court said there were contradictions in the accounts of witnesses, and they did not support the prosecution’s argument.

On March 1, 2002, a mob of more than 2,000 people from two different communities clashed with sharp weapons and inflammable objects in Kalol city in Gandhinagar district. They damaged shops and set them on fire.

A man who was injured in police firing and being rushed to the hospital was burnt alive along with a tempo. The mob attacked and killed another man coming out of a mosque and burnt his body inside the mosque.

In another incident, 38 people fleeing Delol village and coming towards Kalol were attacked and 11 of them were burnt alive.

A woman was gang raped when she and others were trying to escape, as per the FIR.

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi,is disqualifed from the Lok Sabha was announced on March 24 a day after he was convicted by a Surat court for two years in a 2019 defamation case, has been asked to vacate his official bungalow. 

Rahul’s disqualification had kicked in from March 23,  the day of his conviction, a notice by the Lok Sabha Secretariat had said.

The Congress leader will have to vacate his 12, Tughlaq Lane bungalow by April 22, parliament sources were quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying on Monday.

A notice asking Rahul to vacate the official bungalow has been served by the Housing Committee of Lok Sabha, the sources said.

Earlier on Monday, several opposition MPs marched in black dresses from parliament to Vijay Chowk to lodge their protest Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha and the government’s handling of the Adani issue.

Congress MP Sonia Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge were among the protestors who gathered near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Parliament complex and raised slogans against the government.

Holding a huge “Satyamev Jayate” banner and placards with “save democracy” written on them, the MPs proceeded towards Vijay Chowk where they staged a sit-in.

Kharge raised the issue of Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as MP after a Surat court convicted and sentenced him in a 2019 criminal defamation case. “You want to defame Rahul Gandhi that is why you transferred the case to Gujarat even as the comments were made in Kolar in Karnataka. Today is a black day for democracy,” Kharge said.

Trinamool Congress, which has so far stayed away from opposition protests, joined the sit-in on Monday.

CHANDIGARH:  Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs  Jathedar (High Priest) Giani Harpreet Singh, on Monday gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the Punjab government to release all the Sikh youths arrested in last 10 days in connection with the crackdown on pro-Khalistani leader and Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh.

Speaking in a meeting held in Amritsar, Singh said that the Akal Takht would start Khalsa Vehir (religious procession) against drugs and patriarchy and to make Sikh youths Amritdhari.  He also demanded that the National Security Act (NSA) imposed on all the Sikh youths should be immediately revoked.

Members of over 50 Sikh organisations, including those from Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) attended the meeting. Singh said if the government does not end the atmosphere of terror by releasing all the youth within 24 hours, a campaign will be started diplomatically in the country and abroad against bullying of the Sikhs.

Singh alleged that a serious and diplomatic siege is being carried out by the state against the Sikhs, which should be answered diplomatically without being violent. “There is a need to create collective capacity among Sikhs. On one hand, in this democratic and communally diverse India, announcements are made to create a Hindu Rashtra by suppressing the minorities, but no action is being taken against the people who make such provocative statements while governments do not take long to impose black laws on Sikhs who present their views within the framework of democracy,’’ he said.

He added that legal action will be taken by Sikh organisations against the character assassination of Sikhs by the government through the national media. He said that the flag and symbols of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s state and the Sikh princely states were wrongly portrayed as the flag of Khalistan by the Punjab Police and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) was ordered to take strict legal action against those concerned police officers.

He asked the Sikhs to put signs of the Khalsa state on their vehicles and houses to stop the government’s propaganda against flags and symbols related to the heritage. Meanwhile, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami announced setting up a panel of lawyers who will take up cases of Sikh youth booked under the National Security Act and provide other legal assistance to them.

Earlier, Harpreet Singh had requested Amritpal Singh to surrender before authorities and participate in the inquiry. Dal Khalsa had recently written a letter to the Jathedar. It  stated: “Asking Amritpal to surrender does not behove you. This is not the concern of Akal Takht Jathedar as per the Sikh point of view. You are not the custodian of the law and order but of Sikh principles and maryada. You did not take a clear stand on the Ajnala incident during which objections were raised over carrying the Guru Granth Sahib to the police station and then you passed its responsibility onto the Sikh bodies. Our complaint is that you have shown laxity in fulfilling responsibility twice in the matter of the recent incidents. As the time passes, such decisions become a mere formality and bear no impact.” 

Ravi Singh, chief of Khalsa Aid, an NGO, recently in a statement had said that the targeting of Sikh youth in Punjab is once again causing huge concern in the Sikh community across the world. Shiromani Akali Dal said the AAP government had become a party to defame Punjab and asked the government to come clean on the reasons for the arrest.

‘Will start campaign against bullying Sikhs’  
Jathedar of Akal Takht Giani Harpreet Singh said in a meeting that if the government does not end the atmosphere of terror by releasing all the youth within 24 hours, a campaign will be started diplomatically in the country and abroad against bullying the Sikhs.  Singh alleged that today a serious and diplomatic siege is being carried out by the state against the Sikhs,

AHMEDABAD:  After their protest in the Gujarat Assembly, while dressed in all-black, 16 of 17 MLAs of the opposition Congress were suspended from the House on Monday until the conclusion of the current Budget Session. 

They were all suspended for raising a fuss and conducting demonstrations in the House opposing Rahul Gandhi’s exclusion as an MP. On March 29, the budget session comes to an end. Barring South Gujarat’s Vansda MLA Anant Patel, who was attending a court proceeding, all Congress MLAs were present during 
Question Hour in Parliament and dressed in black. 

Amit Chavda, the head of the Congress Legislative Party, wanted a discussion on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha as soon as the question period started. He claimed that Gandhi had been “silenced by the BJP administration” for discussing concerns that affected people. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Congress MLAs rushed to the well, shouting slogans, “Modi-Adani Bhai Bhai”. Amid pandemonium, the speaker them from the House.

A love saga of a wild Sarus (crane) – a state bird of Uttar Pradesh and Mohammad Arif, 30, from Amethi district, is now embroiled in a legal battle that surprises wildlife experts.

Arif spotted an injured bird in his agricultural field last February 2022. He nursed the injured bird’s leg for three months, and later both befriended each other. Soon, Arif became famous for his friendship and became viral on different social media.

Soon the bonhomie between the bird and Arif had taken a turn as Uttar Pradesh Forest Department separated them. On 21 March, Chief Wildlife Warden Sunil Chaudhary ordered officials to take away the bird and charged Arif with violating the law. The decision of government officials appalled wildlife enthusiasts.

“To my mind, the bird was not in wrongful restrain and free to go outside in search for forage is not a crime,” says MK Ranjitsinh, India’s leading wildlife conservationist who drafted India’s first wildlife protection act, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, under which Arif is charged with violation of the law.

The Forest Department first shifted the Sarus to the Samaspur Bird Sanctuary in Rai Bareli, around 50 km west of the Amethi district where Arif lives. Soon the bird disappeared from the sanctuary, which was later sighted in Bisaiya village, five km away. After the bird shifted to Kanpur Zoo, where it became a centre for attraction for Zoo goers.

Dr Asad Rahmani, former Director of the Bombay Natural History Society and famous Birder visited Arif on 13 March and advised him to take care of the bird and inform forest officials.

“I visited him and found that bird was not in captivity,” says Rahmani. “I advised him that the bird has adopted you instead of you. Inform the local forest officer that the bird is not willing to go away,” he added.

Rahmani, a well-known conservationist of the country, explains that animals are well aware of human behaviour and behave according to it. Birds maintain distance if they feel unsafe.  Chaudhary asked Arif to register his statement on 2 April.

“I would request forest officials to treat this case on the human ground as the bird was healthy and free,” says Rahmani. While another wildlife activist agrees with the forest department’s action.

“I feel feeding of the bird is where Arif made some mistake but it should not be blown out of proportion as the bird was not in captive,” says Ajay Dubey, a Bhopal-based wildlife activist.

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Tuesday refused to grant a stay on the general secretary polls of AIADMK, clearing the decks EPS  as the general secretary after late leader J Jayalalithaa.

Without wasting time after the Madras HC verdict, AIADMK election commissioners Natham R Viswanathan and Pollachi V Jayaraman announced the election of Palaniswami as the general secretary of the party. The party functionaries greeted him by presenting shawls and bouquets. 

Following the verdict, Palaniswami said he is thanking the party cadre wholeheartedly for electing him as the general secretary, which is the all-powerful post in the party held by party founder MG Ramachandran (MGR) and late party supremo J Jayalalithaa.

AIADMK is likely to inform the Election Commission of India about the party’s internal election result.

Justice K Kumaresh Babu passed the orders on the batch of petitions filed by deposed leader O Panneerselvam and his supporters PH Manoj Pandian, R Vaithilingam and JCD Prabakar who sought stay on the party polls.

“The interim applications (seeking stay) are rejected, ” the judge said in the order. This is considered yet another fatal blow to OPS in his attempt to claw back into the party by getting some favourable orders from the court.

OPS, PH Manoj Pandian, R Vaithilingam, both MLAs and JCD Prabhakar, filed the suit challenging the resolutions of July 11, 2022, general council meeting, in which, amendments were made in the party bylaws and EPS was appointed as the interim general secretary.

They also questioned their removal from the party without following due procedures.

Even when the matter was sub judice, polls for the general secretary post had been announced on March 17. As per the poll schedule, nominations were filed on March 18 and 19. EPS alone filed the papers and several other party men filed papers on his behalf. It appeared he would be declared elected unanimously.

Challenging the conduct of the organisational polls, OPS and the three leaders moved interim applications before the court. Meanwhile, the EPS camp gave an undertaking that the results would not be declared until the final orders were passed.

All the petitions were heard together in special sittings on two holidays. The senior counsels, representing the OPS camp, vehemently challenged the legality of the amendments and blamed the flouting of the party rules in removing them from the party.  After the final arguments on March 22, the judge had reserved the orders.